


Eos, The dawn

by Blackie_xenphonex



Category: Borderlands
Genre: Alternate Universe - Jack lives, Badass!Rhys, Canon-Typical Violence, Drunk Kissing, Drunkenness, Explicit Language, Hugo Assquez, Jack is a dick, M/M, Manipulation, Slow Build, Vault hunters still hate him, as per usual, non-canon character placement, over used plot is over used
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-19
Updated: 2016-06-28
Packaged: 2018-05-02 08:42:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5241941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blackie_xenphonex/pseuds/Blackie_xenphonex
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pandora is and always will be in Rhys' nightmares. He spent no more than a week down there under the instructions of one Assquez, he took the job that the other man was supposed to do and when he arrives back, he is greeted with no less disdain until he learns of the real importance of his job down there was. Then he learns of the deal that went down, where he had to negotiate with thugs... the vault key that Handsome Jack so wanted, turned up to be a fake and when Handsome Jack learned about it...well, He had nearly lost his other arm only to be snubbed? No... he wouldn't let Vasquez have this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The one that holds up the world

**Author's Note:**

> I know there are so many fics I am doing right now, people really need to get me to update more often... :( mama wants to update but can't...

His mission to Pandora ends with him running to a ship, clutching a briefcase and being shot at. He was pretty sure a bullet or two hit his arm but he didn't have time to check. The ship takes off and Rhys can see people dying on the ground. Rhys is shaking, he can feel it. His arms, his legs, his whole body shakes, but right now... he's not quite sure if it's him or if it's the ship exiting Pandora's atmosphere. He doesn't remember much before this. He remembers a deal, a great amount of money exchanged and now he was back on this shuttle to Helios with 3 bullets left in the clip of his gun. (Which wasn't his, but a dead Hyperion Soldier's.) Rhys killed someone and it was catching up to him, he didn't know them, their name, or who they even worked for... all he knew was that he was shooting at Rhys and... he just pulled the trigger. He didn't feel sorry.

* * *

Helios is calm, he drops off the case with Assquez, his boss. He's a dick to say the least, Rhys doubts that he's hated anyone more than he does Hugo Vasquez. The executive just stares at him for only a second, says something about how Rhys looks and smells like shit and then dismisses him. Rhys doesn't stay to say hello to his friends and he just goes home. He just walks until he knows he needs to turn. It's a walk he's done many times, in a daze of boredom or anger... it all depended on the day. Rhys goes inside his apartment and showers for a very long time. He hadn't looked at the clock when he walked in, but he was sure at least an hour or two passed. He had six missed calls from Yvette. She wanted to know the second Rhys got back so he could tell her all about what happened, but... this wasn't something he could just get out. He doesn't sleep that night.

Rhys is expected to return to work the day after he got back, it really was policy that if you weren't dead, dying, or if you didn't have fever you could not take a day off. Helios rules that really were more like guidelines, but these rules Vasquez enforced quite harshly. The office is quiet and Rhys hates it, Yvette greets him with coffee and she can see the tiredness in his eyes as well as the restlessness. "You gonna be okay?" She asks. Rhys only shrugs and sips his coffee sadly. He'd get over this within the week... with things like this... he always did.

* * *

 

It's about a week later that Rhys sees Vasquez pacing his office, he's really tempted to leave the man to his suffering, but anything to get a leg up. He walks in as if he has something important to say and before he can say anything, Vasquez has grabbed him by the shoulders, he can feel on his one good arm that it hurts. "What the fuck?"

"Did you fucking know it was a fake!?" Vasquez screams, his voice cracks and Rhys finds it hard not to laugh as the man's professional facade breaks away.

"What is, _sir_?" Rhys hisses out.

"Don't you 'what' me! The god damn vault key!! It's a fucking PIECE OF PAINTED STYROFOAM!" He gasps and Rhys just stares at him. "What the fuck were you thinking not checking it? Do you know what Jack will do to me if he doesn't get his key? That was a lot of fucking money!"

"Vasquez, I do believe your exact words were, 'For fuck's sake Rhys, don't look in the case. Just trade and bring it back to me." Rhys mimics Vasquez's voice, "And you can;t really blame this on me.  _You_ were supposed to go down there, not me."

"Well I was fucking hoping you'd die, assrat!"

Rhys gets Vasquez off of him and starts walking out. All that he did, just for this damn Vault key to be fake? For that much money to be lost... all for nothing? No... oh nonononono... This was not going to end with Rhys out an airlock... if anything, Rhys hopes he's the one to push the button whn Vasquez in the one to be shot out. It's not going to end just like this with Vasquez still sitting at the top.

* * *

 

_**Video feed sent** -- to AwesomebossJackie@Hyper.ion_

_**Video label__Vasquez__Vault_key**_

_**Compound make up of "Faux Key" Sent**_

_**Hugo_Vasquez bank record sent__Detected key amount spike__notes:_ _Embezzlement**_

And then it's done in seconds while Vasquez is still speaking, yelling at Rhys about how if this was ever brought up to anyone Rhys would get the blame for it.

* * *

 

"Hey, Yvette?" Rhys looks up at his friend who is leaning on his desk. "Haven't seen Vasquez, have you?"

"Mm? What? No, I haven't. The hypocrite is probably jerking off to some poster of Handsome Jack right now, honestly." She replies, "That dickwad tells us not to be late and look what he does!"

Rhys just blows out a small laugh through his nose. He's in a relatively good mood until Vasquez walks through the doors to their tech section of the office... or more like runs in. "Listen up, fuckfaces! Handsome Jack himself is coming down here, making is way through the important sections of Helios. Get your fucking desks cleaned, I want smiles and I want this office fucking cleaned, now!" He yells before he locks himself in his office. He draws the blinds and Rhys doesn't need an ECHOeye to know that Hugo Vasquez is rocking back and forth in his chair, knees to chest, on the verge of shitting himself... well, that doesn't stop him from using it.

After a few long and stressful hours of people panicking, throwing away garbage papers, cleaning their desks of anything personal, and some going so far as to put up some Handsome Jack posters around the office, Yvette goes so far as to do that as well. It is obviously more acceptable for female workers to do that than male workers. Rhys is pretty sure that Jack is creeped out by Vasquez, which makes the tech office the least liked section of Helios, also the smallest, so small it's smaller than the janitorial staff. Rhys doesn't have much time to think or even clean and before he knows it, he can hear the elevator doors from across the room slide open and he can hear eveyone stand straight in their seats. Rhys has a bit too much confidence that this will go in his favor or to hope the least that Vasquez would get the boot... or more like get an airlock...

 


	2. The one that burns

It's really from there where everything goes to shit. Handsome Jack has no reservations on where he talked, how loud he was, and if someone was talking over him. He'd just talk louder. This is how he spoke to most of the section leaders. They stuttered and rubbed their hands together and talked to Jack as if he didn't know what coding was. Rhys won't deny he is a fan of Jack's, but Vasquez goes beyond fan, he's more like... borderline psychopathic love for Jack, it crept everyone out including Rhys. Handsome Jack snubbed each leader after hearing what he wanted to hear, profit up for Hyperion, money down from..everyone else. It was as simple as that and Rhys, being one of those section leaders kept it short and to the point. There was no doubt that Jack scared him, Jack scared everyone, even his fanboys. (In all honesty, there really were no fangirls... they had good taste in men, bad taste in jobs.) Rhys forced himself not to look away from Jack's homochromatic eyes since they were pretty much peering into his soul. If he was one of those tech geeks who couldn't hold a pen straight... he'd be shaking in his skag skin boots. He was.

Then, Handsome Jack moves on to Vasquez and Rhys can feel the tension. Either of Jack knowing or Vasquez knowing, hopefully both. Rhys didn't really know if Jack even received messages, but what he had done was worth a try. Handsome Jack stays exactly arms length from Vasquez and talking to him about the Vault Key. He didn't care who was listening, he wanted everyone to here, everyone to see how pale the asshole was, he wanted everyone to know how big of a fuck up Hugo Vasquez was. By the time people started whispering about, Hugo wasn't replying anymore. He was just smiling nervously, soaked with sweat.

"Now then, Wallet-head." Jack grins and shoves his hands in his pockets, "You gonna fucking tell me where my money's at? Oh yeah, and that key... Where the fuck is the real one?"

"Ah-ahhh.... Sir, I told you that the deal w-went fine and--" Vasquez starts.

"Bullshit. Now look me in the eye and say that that cardboard cutout with a glowey paint job is a fucking vault key." Jack is on the verge of yelling. He grabs Vasquez's suit by the collar and is nearly lifting the man off the ground, despite Hugo's greater size and weight, he's at his toes. "Now... you gonna tell me what the fuck happened?"

"I... I--It was Rhys!" Vasquez nearly screams as a last ditch effort to save his own disgusting hide. Rhys's eyes go wide and he clenches his fists, if he was going down, it wouldn't be without dislocating Vasquez's jaw.

Jack raises a brow, "And who is 'Rhys'?" he asks.

Vasquez shakily raises a hand to point at the younger man who is giving the glare of death. Jack looks at him sideways. "That scrawny little piss-ant?" Jack laughs and Rhys is more offended now than anything. "And if it was him... didn't I tell you to go down there and not send one of your lackeys?" He asks.

"Well, Vasquez always was a fucking coward." Rhys says. He doesn't have a filter between his head and his mouth, or it's very thin. His mechanical hand flies to his mouth and Jack is looking at him, shocked and amused. Vasquez is still shaking, unable to even look at Rhys.

"So he did send you down there? Pff, and you didn't die... y'know I am actually impressed." Jack hums and lets go of Vasquez.

"Now then, cupcake... why don't you tell me what happened on your end." He says, sauntering over in Rhys's direction before wrapping an arm around his shoulder and roughly guiding him out. Rhys looks back and he can see Yvette and Vaughn looking more so sympathetic and sad than worried. They thought Rhys was going to die...... shit.

* * *

 

Rhys tells him of the deal and the bandits that sold it. They seemed off and really wanting manipulate Rhys into more money, Rhys had only a specific amount given to him by Vasquez and... Rhys had never held so much money in his life. Each night on Pandora was a sleepless nightmare that he couldn't wake up from. Rhys concludes the part about the deal and what he actually had to do in order to keep the key. The bandits took the money, but he took one of their lives. _A nightmare he couldn't wake up from_.

"Holy hell, cupcake." Jack grins and he seems all too amused, "So then... Rheese... were you really to blame for this HUGE ass fuck up or was it Vasquez wanting to really impress me?"

"It really was all Vasquez. I-I only went because he threatened to have me demoted to Janitorial staff, have me clean the airlocks and... well, he said he'd be there to push the button." Rhys doesn't know why he needs to justify why he went, what he did it for, but Jack seems more angry with Vasquez and interested in what Rhys had to say.

"Well then Cupcake, I believe Vasquez and I have a few words to say to each other... or more like he's sobbing and then there's a bullet in his brain." Jack hums.

"Sending him out an airlock is more satisfying. The eyes pop out of the head." Rhys mutters and he could have sworn that Jack chuckled, taking in his advice.


	3. Gone to hell and back

They arrive a few floors up, just outside Jack's office. "So then, kiddo..." They turn a bit too quickly for Rhys to really process where and what they were facing, an airlock. Oh god no. "You're gonna get me my money back or get me a real vault key, other wise..." Jack forces Rhys to take a step forward. "You're going right out this door." Then he pulls Rhys back and the younger man doesn't have much muscle control, he's so terrified he backs right up into Jack's chest. He then feels Jack lean down just a bit, "Now, pack your stuff cupcake... we're leavin' in a week."

"Wh--Pandora?"Rhys asks.

"Hah!! No, dumbass. Elpis is gonna be the ticket." Jack snorts. "Now, fucking move you, dumdum! Or you're gonna go out that airlock!"

Rhys doesn't exactly have the time or grace to walk calmly off the floor. He scrambles to the elevator with the exact grace of a new born baby giraffe, hearing Jack laughing behind him. Weather the man was chuckling or full on maniac laughing, Rhys doesn't want to know.

* * *

Rhys is hyperventilating by the time he's back at his apartment. He had closed the door behind him and fell to his knees. He hears something drop in the kitchen and two sets of heavy footsteps head toward him. He looks up but he's really breathing to fast to see. He can feel a set of hands on his face and then there's Yvette's voice in his ears telling him to breathe. He really didn't want to go back to Pandora. He didn't want to see the other horrors that awaited him. He was going alone again. He only had three bullets, one gun, and not that much money. Soon he comes back to reality and his head is spinning.

"Hey! Rhys, you with me, bud?" Vaughn asks and Rhys just nods. This was the worst. He couldn't think.

"Damn, you scared the shit out of me." Says Yvette and helps Rhys up and to the couch. Rhys slowly slides over and lays down on the couch. "I mean, what the hell happened?"

Rhys feels like he wanted to cry. He shakes his head and covers his face with his hands, he doesn't cry, bur he's sure he's on the verge of doing so. "I... I have to go back. Or something." He stutters.

"Oh.... shit." Yvette mutters and places a hand lightly on Rhys's shoulder, the man flinches and he really doesn't need to say anything else. "Listen, Rhys, Vaughn's gonna go buy you a sheild and I'm gonna buy you bullets. If you dare die on me, I'll go down to Elpis myself, bring you back, and kill you again." She says in a very stern tone. Vaughn starts to complain, but shuts up immediately. "You get me, Rhys?"

He nods, "Yeah, I get you." he hums and pulls his hands away from his face and looks up at his friend.

"You're gonna call every night and you're gonna talk me through what you did that day... mmkay?"

"Okay."

She smiles and pats Rhys's shoulder, Vaughn gives a small smile from behind her. "Now, get some rest. We'll do everything else. Pack, stock up, and all that stuff." Says Vaughn. Rhys sits himself up, gets up and hugs his friends. He was probably going to die, and knowing that they cared really helped him cope...... The more he thought about it, the worse he felt though.

Wait... did Jack say 'We'?

* * *

 

The week passes slowly, too slowly and each day he dreaded leaving more. Yvette had bought him the most expensive shield he's really ever seen, though that's not saying much. He had it on his bed stand for the week preceding his leaving time. He held it every so often, turning it on and feeling a slight shock as the shield covered him. It made him feel safer, but this wasn't permanent. Though it could regenerate its self... it could be brought down. He turns it off and sets it on his bed table, it glows gold as it shuts off. It's Friday when he really realizes he really does have to leave. He didn't go into the office all that week, he didn't work, and it took some coaxing to get him out of his room. He was afraid, he had never been to Elpis. He knew it was always dark there and there were a few old Hyperion towns/cites. But he also knew there was just as much danger. He curled in on himself, then he received an ECHO from an unknown caller. He clicks the small button to answer and the voice he's been dreading to hear come through.

"Hello, Cupcake!"

Rhys shoots up and sits up with a loud curse, he's just glad he didn't let it be a video call. He's in no state, especially if it's Handsome Jack. "H-hello, sir." He says with less enthusiasm, he's had a lot of sleepless nights because of Jack and not the good kind.

"Aw, snowflake, you're breakin' my heart. You didn't even visit your office this week. You missed Vasquez's send off." Says Jack, Rhys can hear the grin in his voice. "I have a vid I'll show you when you get here."

"What? Get where?" Rhys asks.

"Down on Elpis, numbnuts. I've been trackin' this deal for the whole damn week and you're gonna be my negotiator."

"Negotiator!? I only got that faux key b-because those bandits were stupid!!" Rhys groans.

"Well, I am planning on the Bandits on Elpis to be stupid." He hears Jack sigh, "All else fails, we shoot everyone."

"What do you mean we?"

"Oh, kitten. You've got a Hyperion made ECHOeye. The moment I had it's production number and address, only a few codes in and I can see exactly what you really did on Pandora." Rhys curses inwardly, Jack saw everything. "Well, kiddo. I've read up on you and you are exactly what I want down on Elpis. You better get your ass down here by tomorrow, I'll be waiting.

 


	4. And then back to hell again

Rhys hated the shuttles. They were so small and cramped, he was pretty sure the pilots had more room than any of the passengers did. But given Rhys was the only passenger here... well, it didn't help this sinking feeling in his gut and his dizziness, didn't help with his panic. He works on remembering what he did before he left Helios for the second time. He got his things together, a dufflebag full of the essentials and clothes, night clothes and his day clothes. It probably seemed stupid now, but he had brought a picture with all his friends as well. While was was on Pandora the first time, he had met a couple con-women, they were nice, helped him out, they became his friends too. Fiona and Sasha, he had a picture of them, same for Vaughn and Yvette. He said goodbye to his friends on Helios, found out exactly where Jack had sent Vasquez and then left. It was so breif, so short, but he felt satisfaction seeing what actually happened to Vasquez, it would seem Jack took his advice to heart and Vasquez's face was forever stuck in a horrified, pleading expression. Rhys clutches his bag to his chest, breathing hard as get closer and closer to Elipsis. It was sever times smaller than Pandora but it still was huge, so huge in fact that it's gravity was much greater than earth's moon and was able to support it's own wildlife... hah, moon monsters. It feels like their crashing and when the shuttle stops shaking, Rhys feels like he's going to throw up, he would if he had anything in his stomach. A soldier comes and unlocks the belts and bars that held Rhys down, tossed him an O2 and sent him out, Rhys fumbles putting it on in the first place and his breath was nearly sucked out of him the moment he set foot on Elipsis.

He manages to get it turned on and ready and he takes in a deep lung full of air. How could someone be so careless? This damn soldier nearly got him killed and-- Oh god no. Rhys does throw up what little is in his stomach and it is not pretty. He manages to get himself calmed down and continues to clutch the bag to his chest. He has the location of the station where Jack is on his NAV. It's a but ridiculous how far away it is and Rhys only has a box of bullets, he's probably the worst aim out there so why in the hell would jack make the pilot land so far away. He groans to himself and starts walking, it's awkward at first, too much force behind a step can send him flying a few feet forward. He walks slowly then decides to use the few feet to his advantage, it makes him a bit faster so he starts running and it's a bit exhilarating each time both feet leave the ground, he finds it best not to look up, if he did, he might get sick again, thinking that if one did jump too high or if one got too high, they'd float off into space. Then Rhys stops in his tracks, he goes sliding and lands on his side at the feet of a couple bandits. This really can't be happening. "Yo, birdy." One of them sneered. "Huhu, Yeah, hi birdy." The other says. Rhys can't see either of their faces, since they both has masks.

"Whatcha in a hurry for? Somethin' in the bag?" The first one asks. Rhys just shakes his head, no. Then he can feel the man frown, "Y'know, birdy. We's don't like to be lied to."

"Huhu, yeah! No lies!" The second one says, now obviously the stupider of the two.

"Th-There isn't. I don't have anything!" Rhys' voice cracks and his can only clutch his own bag tighter. He manages to slide away from the two bandits and get to his feet.

"Well then birdy, how about some protection?" The first bandit says, "You give us everything in that bag or little 'accidents' will start to happen."

Rhys frowns and he thinks about drawing his gun. "Is there anyone around?" He asks.

"Huhu, absolutely fucking no one!" Says the stupid one. The first one takes a step toward Rhys, reaching for his bag.

"No one to hear you scream, birdy." He says maniacally.

"Or no one to hear you." Rhys frowns and draws his gun. He's running on pure adrenaline and he doesn't even think, his hand works on it's own and he pulls the trigger, the first one is down, not dead, but incapacitated. The stupider of the two stares at him for only a second before Rhys pulls the trigger again, that one is dead. He holsters the gun and clicks the strap back in place. He hears someone behind him, sliding away. It's the bandit, Rhys can only look down at him. "Give me all the money, ammunition, and guns you have and I'll give you a health STIM."

The Bandit stares at him, actually terrified. He does as he's told and gives Rhys all he has. Rhys also keeps his word and gives him the vial and starts to walk away.

"W-We're gonna fuck you up, birdy! I know your face! If I ever see you again, I'll kill ya!!" The bandit screams.

"Don't make me regret sparing you." Is all Rhys can say back and he continues walking.

Then he hears a click in his ear.

"Jesus, kitten. Didn't know you had it in you." The voice brings him back to reality and he's shaking again, he's realizing what he really just did. He killed someone again. He can hear the amusement in Jack's voice and something else he can't recognize but what every emotion it was, it made Rhys' stomach turn.

Rhys doesn't have a problem getting to the Hyperion station from there. He just walks in and most of the soldiers and guards are looking down at him. Rhys can hear whispers among them such as "What the hell is a pencil pushing doing here?" and "Look at that pussy." Everything Rhys is used to. He just walks, he's not quite sure where he's supposed to go, he just stares at the ground.

"Rheesy!" He hears from in front of him. Rhys looks up and sees Handsome Jack himself here, he walks up to Rhys like it's nothing for him to be there and puts an arm around his shoulders, leading him into the largest complex in the station. "I see you had no problem finding your way here. Also, damn cupcake! What you did to those bandits." Rhys can hear the amusement again. Rhys doesn't really pay attention to where they are going, but they reach a hallway. "You look like shit, kiddo. Sleep, eat something, then find me when you wake up. We've got work to do." Jack let's Rhys go and pushes him into a room, it's much too nice to be like the bunks he's sure the soldiers and scientists here sleep in. It is way to nice. Rhys looks back at Jack who winks at him then shut the door. He turns on the lights and searches about the room. It's really clean and when he looks in the fridge there's plenty of food to cook with and a few beers. Rhys hopes they have something like instant noodles because that's all he can make.

After actually finding a couple instant meals and finishing them off along with two beers, Rhys was feeling himself again. With everything that was really happening to him, he hoped to what ever deity was out there that this was all a bad dream. He lays on his side on a love seat only a few feet away from a bed but Rhys can't bring himself to get up and get that comfortable, he just stays on the couch and falls asleep staring at the bed.

* * *

 Rhys wakes to his ECHO ringing, it seems so loud in the morning. He opens his eyes and he's still on Elipsis, tired and scared. He answers the vidcall, which turns out to be Yvette. "H-hey." he says, his voice tired and low.

"Don't 'hey' me! You didn't call when you landed, you dick!" Yvette growles, "I thought you were dead!"

"Calm down, Yvette. I was just... in shock is all. I had to make my way to the station and when I got there I was really tired."

Yvette sighs and scratches her head, "You better call every chance you get. Vaughn was freaking out when you didn't call."

"We both know he has worse separation anxiety than I do." Rhys smiles and Yvette nods in agreement. "I gotta go, okay? I promise I'll call later."

Yvette frowns and nods, "I'll see later, dickhead."

"Bye bye, jerk wad." Rhys smiles and ends the call. He gets himself up and changes his clothes. He hoped they had freaking washing machines on Elipsis or so help him he might actually shoot someone.... again.


	5. The Easy Part

 He changes and walks out of the room, he isn't sure where to go and somehow, Jack's ECHO has appeared in his contacts. He calls and Jack answers almost immediately.

"Up already?" He hears, "Last I checked, you were sprawled out over my couch." Wait... that was Jack's room?

"Uh, y-yeah. I'm better so we can talk, like you wanted." Rhys replies.

"Uh-huh. Yeah, meet me down stairs. Got somethin' to show ya, kiddo." Jack says and Rhys can hear the smile in his voice, like a kid. With that, Jack hands up and Rhys has to search the stations entire data base for a damn map. After a point of running into walls on occasion, Rhys finds Jack surrounded by stuttering scientist who are damn near close to stressing themselves to death. He walks up to him and Jack's entire demeanor changes, from irritation from the scientists to being Happy to see Rhys, which was weird.

"Hey there, Rhys! Was wondering what was taking you so long!" Jack says and instantly wrapping an arm around Rhys like he had a few hours before. "Now then... I want you to look at this. " Jack says and just starts leading Rhys to something he can only recognize as a vault key. It's floating, probably in some magnetic field but it glows a faint blue instead of the purple which it's supposed to.

"Um. Jack... If you already had the vault key... why do you need me he--"

"This is the damn prototype this dunces have been working on for the past week. Not a fucking vault key." Jack says, he sounds angry just talking about it. "And the only good thing it does is ex-fucking-plode." Jack's grip on Rhys' shoulder tightens but Rhys doesn't feel it, it's his bionic arm so Jack can do what ever to it and Rhys can't really feel it.

"I'm just gonna guess and say that they've been pumping slag into a hunk of stone?" Rhys says quietly.

"Fucking right! They think they can make a damn vault key!" Jack growls and Rhys gets an idea.

"We can use it to our advantage. Sell it off to someone you really hate for Billions, get your money back, person dies, buy actual vault key." Rhys says, though he really meant to just think it to himself. Jack doesn't say anything. When Rhys looks over at him, Jack is looking at him with the largest and most evil grin Rhys has actually seen, it scares him. "I-I mean--"

"Oh kitten, you shouldn't tease like that! You are fucking brilliant!" He laughs, Rhys blushes a bit and he's not sure why. He then leads Rhys away from the case. They head back up to the surface and Jack keeps Rhys a bit too close to him. "So then, Rheesy... we gonna get that key or what?"

"Wait, you found it already?" Rhys asks, "What if it's a fake again?"

"Then we shoot everyone, babe. Really, keep up." Jack sighs, "I got a meeting set up and everything, all ya gotta do is talk them down. Get them to cough up the vault key."

"I f-feel like you have a b-bit too much faith in me." Rhys mutters.

"Look, kiddo. I saw what you did on Pandora, that much money and they still wouldn't give it up... it was fake but honestly, I don't think the two you spoke with knew either." Jack grins, "You can talk em' down. Don't worry."

Rhys doesn't have a good feeling about this.

* * *

The meeting is on the same day and it's a few miles walk. He didn't think Jack would really come with him but when the man insisted on walking with him, it was weird to say the least. Jack had trusted Rhys with carrying the money, another probable mistake, it's cuffed to his bionic wrist and can't be removed without a code that only Jack frigging knows. They reach a small shanty town, covered by a few oxygen domes and not at all safe. Jack's face is recognized and Rhys feels all eyes on them both, Jack clearly knew where they were going. They reach a larger shack and Jack knocks. "What do you want?" He hears from the other side of the door and Jack apparently has no patience. He kicks the door clean off it's rusted hinges and kicks back whomever was on the other side. A couple of Bandits stood with a large case in front of them on a make shift table.

"Hah. I didn't want to believe it, but when someone said Handsome Jack was coming..." The Bandit sneers and places a hand on the large case then the Bandit looks to Rhys, then the case he's holding. "You got the money? The amount we agreed on?" The bandit says.

"Yeah, when I say I'm gonna pay, I pay." Jack scoffs and walks to the table. "Now, show me the goods." he says and the Bandits seem nervous now. Rhys knew this would happen, but Jack is blind to it. The Bandit doesn't doesn't remove his hand from the case he only stares Jack down. Jack rolls his eyes and groans, "Rhys, handle this before I put a bullet in someone." Rhys frowns.

"You do that, and they put a bullet in you." Rhys mutters and walks up to the table and sets to case down. One of the bandits goes to pick it up and Rhys pulls the case away with his wrist, displaying that it was in fact chained to him and they'd really have to either sell to get it or something worse. Rhys' heart is beating several miles an hour and he really can't think straight. He goes on instinct again.

"Listen, you need the money don't you?" He asks.

"We don't fucking need it." Says a Bandit behind him.

"But you want it, bad?" He says back and the Bandits go silent and Rhys raises a brow.

"Keep talkin'." Says the bandit with his hand on the case.

"If you show the goods and it's a vault key, Jack won't shoot any of you, we pay, we leave, you're a few billion dollars richer and rid of the most dangerous artifact on the planet."

The bandit leans forward so that only Rhys can hear him. "Listen kid, I don't wanna end you but we will if it means getting the money."

"The key's a fake, isn't it, coward?" Rhys scowls then he can see the Bandit smile.

"Oh no. It's real, we just want it and the money."

Then it all goes to shit. Rhys isn't sure what he did or how it happened but now he has both the case of money and the key in his hands. The bandit in front of him is dead, shot through the head and Rhys has to drag him off the table in order to flip it for cover. He isn't sure where Jack is for a moment before the man hurtles over the table and lands right beside him. There's blood on him, on his hands and splattered to his face. Rhys is shaking. "I'm j-just gonna say this now but I saw this coming!" Rhys yells, his voice cracking with stress.

"Honestly babe." Jack gets up and shoots a few shots at the bandits, "Shut the fuck up!" He growls and Rhys can hear a few bodies hit the ground. "Get the hell up and let's move!" Yells Jack. He grabs Rhys' flesh arm tightly and nearly drags him to the next point of cover. "Damn it, Rhys! I can't kill them all by myself. I saw what you did when you got here! I saw what you did on Pandora, fucking do it now!" Rhys doesn't know what to do. Sure he's killed people, but with this many and actually having a bigger chance of getting shot... he wasn't sure if he could tap into that. He opens the case with the vault key and the thing is huge, cone shaped and glowing purple with erridium. He shoves it into the case with the money for easier carrying, he pulls his gun from it's holster and for the first time in a while, he's actually praying. He pushes himself from his ass to his knees and he's shooting over the cover and he doubts he's really aiming at anything but he can hear bandits falling after every shot or after every couple shots then he feels something rip through his shoulder, the space in between his mechanical shoulder and his neck. He falls back and holds the spot. Something split there now and he's bleeding. He can barely move his mechanical arm and it's now useless. Jack looks back from where he was shooting and quickly ducks down.

"Aw shit. What the fuck Rhys!" He hears him yell. "You fucking idiot! Why the hell would you do that!"

"What th- what just happened?" Is all Rhys can ask and Jack just stares at him for a moment incredulously.

"You fucking ass, you got shot. We've gotta leave now!" The older man yells and Rhys is kind of fading in and out now. He closes his eyes for just a second and Jack slaps him, the asshole. He blinks again and he hears heavy gun fire, not like he'd heard before, then he feels like he's being carried. He really should have saw this coming, anyone could predict what would have happened. He shouldn't have been so stupid. He looks up and sees Jack looking down at him, he looks angry, but Rhys isn't really sure. "Stay with me, kiddo. One fucking wound isn't gonna kill ya." he hears before going unconscious. His shoulder hurts and he's not sure if Jack is mad at him or worried for him... but if he thinks about it, he's not that important to Jack, there's plenty of Lackeys he can choose from, everyone's disposable at Hyperion.

 


	6. In the wake of pain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god look at this. Three chapters in two days O_O

Rhys wakes up to a lot of bright lights and he feels like he's moving but he knows he's laying down. He can't really open his eyes but he can make out the shapes of people above him. "Hey! Kiddo! You awake, talk to me babe!" He hears Jack say. Rhys can barely move his mouth to form words. He presses chapped lips together then mutters out the older man's name. "Jack..." He wants to apologize, he hopes he doesn't get sent out an airlock for this. He fucked up, he's going to be stuck out there in space with fucking Vasquez. He can only mutter the sentence halfway before he's really really tired again. He hears Jack telling him to stay awake, telling him he better be sorry, but since Rhys is going out an airlock either way... might as well not listen and get some rest while he could. His eyes shut and it's black for a while, a dreamless sleep.

Rhys walks up next in a blue room with artificial light surrounding him. He groans and he hears a small sigh come from next to him. He opens his eyes and looks to see Yvette and Vaughn both next to him and holding his hand. "Hey, dickhead." Yvette says.

"Hey... Jerk wad." Rhys mutters with a tired smile, his voice is hoarse and he's really thirsty. "How... how long was I out? I was gonna ask where I was, but it's kinda obvious."

"Yeah. You were about for nearly a week." Vaughn says with a small sigh and slips away to let some nurses know he's awake.

"We knew something was up when you didn't call. We checked around until we heard you were here." Yvette says, "No one will tell us what happened. Did Jack--"

"What? Did Jack what? He didn't shoot me. I believe he's the one who got me here!" Rhys mutters and Yvette looks back at a nurse, waving at her to exit.

She looks back at the nurse and shakes her head. "I'm not leavin' him until he gets better, you here?" Then Rhys hears the heavy steps on the tile of the hospital.

"Sweetheart, you're gonna leave so I can have a talk with Rhys." Says the older man, now in the doorway and with a frown on his face. Yvette goes pale then looks back at her friend.

"I--I'm gonna be right outside, kay Rhys?" She gives him a week smile and then leaves, rushing past Jack. Rhys turns to frown at Jack.

"You don't have to scare my friends away." he mutters, "I've only been awake a few minutes."

"Yeah, shut up." Jack grumbles and shuts the door behind him. "Why the fuck did you do that?" He asks angrily.

"Do what? Get shot? I dunno, felt like it I guess." Rhys says sarcastically.

"Remember who the fuck you're talking to, cupcake." Jack folds his arms in front of his chest.

"You're gonna throw me out an airlock anyway!" Rhys replies, equally angry. Jack pauses and actually confused.

"You really think I'm gonna push you out an airlock for getting shot?" He asks, honestly confused why Rhys would think that. Rhys stares at him for a long while, looks between Jack and the door, then down at here his prosthetic arm should be then back to Jack again.

"So... I am wrong then?" Rhys asks.

"Shit yeah, you're wrong. Look, you got shot and you're damn right I am angry about that, but you got me that vault key." Jack seems to calm down a bit and he smiles excitedly. "You've proved your value, kiddo."

"Oh then... I guess I'm sorry for being a dick?" Rhys mutters.

"Never be sorry for being a dick. You thought you were gonna get shot out an airlock! You stared death right in the face and then slapped him. I dunno, I think it's kinda hot." Jack laughs a bit then walks to leave. He opens the door and looks back at Rhys, "I expect your ass up at my office Monday, you just got yourself promoted."

Rhys just stares at the man until he can't see him anymore. Vaughn and Yvette rush in and stare him down, nearly expecting Rhys to be dead. "S-so... how'd it go?" Asks Vaughn.

"I think I just got the biggest fucking raise on Helios." Rhys muttered.

* * *

It was hard to get himself up and around, his shoulder hurt and his arm was still missing. He later learned that it had been scrapped because of the nerve damage that the bullet caused. They repaired the circuitry, but it was no longer compatible with the arm he had. Now he was home only a few days later, trying to do regular tasks but feeling like an invalid. Every time he reached for something with his right hand... well he just wouldn't grab it. There was nothing there. He ended up having trouble putting on clothes. He had yet to have the money to even think of replacing the arm. He ended up being an invalid for the remainder of the week until Monday. He used his security card on the lift, expecting it to be rejected when going to Jack's floor but the lift went straight up. He'd never really been on this floor and the only time he was there was when Jack threatened to toss him out an airlock, then he didn't have time to look around. He walks to a large double sliding door and sees a panel on the side, like a hand print scanner an a comm. He presses the call button and the door opens immediately, but not because he pressed the button.  Jack is holding an investor, from what he wore, by his expensive shirt collar. Jack looks over the shoulder of the man he is currently lifting up off the ground. "Ah! Cupcake! First matter of business, what do I do with this lying scheming bastard?" Jack asks him and the poor investor looks over his shoulder.

"W-wait what? What'd he do?" Rhys asks quickly before Jack decides to throw him down an elevator shaft.

"N-noth--" The investor tries to defend. "He stole about the amount of two vault keys and spent it on a damn party! Gambling!"

"You don't need to kill him!" Rhys says quickly and Jack scowls. "Look, take his shares and everything he's got and send him down to Pandora. You really don't want to add to your count, otherwise, it definitely will draw attention to Hyperion."

Jack growls and drops the man, who lands straight on his ass. He looks to Rhys, thanking him over and over. "Don't. You're probably going to be eaten by a skag so..." The man looks less thankful now and he rushes out in hopes that Jack wan't serious. Jack groans in anger, "I wanted to fucking shoot him, Rhys!!" The man yells and Rhys takes a few steps back.

"You've killed enough." Rhys says, though his conviction is waning.

Jack runs a hand through his hair and takes a few deep breaths. "Alright, kiddo... since you're workin' right under me, you're going to want to get your bio-metrics into the system. I've got your card and blood work in, but I need prints." he says and takes Rhys' wrist and leads him to the scanner, he just places the younger man's hand down upon it and then types in something too quick to see. "And now your position is permanent." Jack says with a small smile.

"Unless you decide I'm not useful anymore." Rhys mutters. Why couldn't he have a filter? Everything he thought came out, this was going to get him into shit someday that he won't be able to get out of.

"Yeah, I doubt you'll stop being useful, kitten." Jack says and leads him into the large office, one large desk to the center and artifacts and seemingly useless junk around. There's the largest window Rhys has ever seen behind Jack's desk. "So then, babe. Welcome to the glorified job of doing paper work and talking me out of shit." Jack smirks and looks to the younger man. "I also have a present for ya."

Jack leaves Rhys to marvel at the large office, lavish and with two couches as well as a few comfortable chairs. He doesn't move any further into the office and though he wants to look around more, he can't do it. "Rheesy. Get your ass over here." Rhys snaps his vision to Jack who pulls out a large oblong box. Rhys quickly walks to Jack's desk and looks down at the box. It's not wrapped or anything, it's just a plain box, brown and cardboard. There was a lid and thankfully it wasn't taped shut. Then he might have actually had to ask Jack for his help opening it. He slips the lid off and it's the nicest prosthetic he's ever seen. Silver and nearly chrome. He isn't sure if it would be compatible with him. He looks up from the arm to Jack, who looks really proud of himself.

"Jack... I mean wow. Seriously, Wow." Rhys mutters then lifts the arm from the box. It's light weight, lighter than his last one, it'd be hard to get used to.

"You just gonna stare at it or are you gonna plug it in?" Jack asks.

"It's not as simple as that..." Rhys mutters, "Also, don't say that again. Coming from you, it just sounds wrong."

With the clothes that Rhys was wearing, putting the arm on would require him to take off his shirt and it might take time for him to even adjust it, but he's too excited to really wait to put it on. He glances up at Jack then the arm. He sits down in the guest chair and unbuttoned his shirt. He slipped it off the shoulder of his missing arm and suddenly Jack was at his side, actually helping him. "How the hell did you even put on the other one by yourself?" Jack snorts.

"Really awkwardly." Rhys replies with a small laugh and feels a slight pain when circuits are connected then feels shock when the arm is magnetized to its place. He rolls the wrist and it moves fluidly, not at all as robotic as his old arm. He lifts it above his head then rolls his shoulder. He winces at his wound which was only just starting to heal. "Listen, rheesy. I know you're all excited about your new job, but don't rip your stitches open. I'm already paying for one hospital bill, I don't need another one."

"You have infinite money, Jack. But I can promise you I won't rip it open." Rhys sighs.

"What I mean is don't push yourself." Jack frowns. "Don't over work yourself. I asked around your office and I was told that you usually stayed hours late."

"That was because of Vasquez!" Rhys quickly tries to explain himself and Jack just looks at him. It was a habit of Rhys' to over work but it was only to get into Vasquez's place or somewhere better than where he was. He was only a few rungs above the janitorial staff and now he's only a few from being coworkers with Handsome Jack. Maybe he would over work himself this time to prove he's useful.

"Sure, yeah right, kiddo." Jack sighs. "Listen, all you're work is on your desk and if there's signatures then make a stack for me, got it?"

"Uh, yeah." Rhys mutters as he realizes that his shirt is still half off. He pulls it back on and buttons it much more easily. He finds that he has a desk to himself and though there's an entire's tree worth of paper work there, it was nice for a time.


	7. Dinner with Devils

Things were a version of normal for a time. Though keeping Jack's killing to minimum was the hardest part of the job, then started the experiments on the vault key. The longer it went on, the more science papers on his desk. Jack walks in every morning expecting good news, but usually it's just one test after another. Rhys feels each time Jack asks him and gets mad, he's going to shoot the messenger. Jack then would go about his day angry, snapping at anyone and usually snapping entailed shooting at least one person. This was until Jack came in one day, much too pissed. There was a mask over the mask Jack already wore.

"Rheesy!" Jack calls in a sing song voice and the younger man winces. "I gotta ask you a favor! Also you can't say no."

"That's not a favor, it's an order." Rhys mutters and sets most of the science papers on his boss' desk.

"Yeah, well, shut up." Jack grunts and sits down in his chair, he rolls it back and looks directly at Rhys. "So then, cupcake! You're gonna go out with me tonight!" Jack grins and Rhys moves back in confusion. Go out with Handsome Jack? What is that supposed to mean? Rhys' face goes red and he has no control over it.

"Okay, w-what?" Rhys stutters.

"Oh quite with the doe-eye bullshit. I mean I want you to come with me to a damn dinner and make sure I don't kill someone, because I am pretty sure that some of the people there are going to make asses of themselves." Jack's smile drops and he rolls his eyes.

"Look if this is like a corporate bullshit dinner, I don't have anything that nice." Rhys replies, hoping for a way out.

"Ah well, lucky you've got the richest boss in the system! I need you on this because I really don't want to kill everyone at that party and I'm sure you don't want me to draw attention and y'know haha... slaughter everyone." Jack laughs and gets up from his chair and walks close to Rhys, placing both his hands on the smaller man's shoulders and squeezing, feigning a sweet fact that looks really weird on him. Rhys groans and pulls away.

"Yeah, okay I get it! Just, stop making that face." Rhys looks away and Jack presses closer.

"What? This one?" Jack grins even more and continues to make the face that Rhys is slowly starting to hate.

"Ssssstop!" Rhys hisses and pushes Jack away. "Just-Just where are we going to get a suit? Last I checked there wasn't a 'tailor' on Helios, but I am pretty sure you're just gonna dial a number or press a button and poof, tailor."

"You got that right, kitten!" Jack pages someone at his desk and withing the next fifteen minutes later there is a woman dressed very fabulously, "Aurelia! I need a suit for my PA here, something that suits him!"

The woman is much taller than Rhys, voluptuous with a little extra weight which she carries well. She looks down at Rhys and the way she looks at him makes him more than a little uncomfortable. She looks him over and circles him. The moment she opens her mouth, Rhys can't stand her. Pompous.

"My my, Jack. Where do you get them? They really are always so small, doubt he's even worth much." She purses her lips and continues to circle.

"Just measure him and make him a suit by the end of the week." Jack groans.

She presses her lips together, smirks and grabs Rhys to suddenly he doesn't have time to even think what she's doing. She's in front of him and measures what she should, then she's behind him and--

"Oh. Now I see what you keep him around!" She grins then just as quickly as she came in, she prances out. Rhys just stands there confused.

"What just happened?" He asks.

"I believe you just got violated." Jack replies with a laugh.

* * *

The week is far more confusing as it goes on. The more science reports he gets, the less he's able to translate and by Friday, Rhys is sure the R&D team was bullshitting now. He stares at each of these papers and the only thing he can even understand is that they keep pumping things into the Key, it doesn't do anything, like it just swallows what ever they give it and then it's gone. The key does nothing and nothing they've been doing can activate it. If Rhys was being honest, he was scared of what the key could unleash. He knew Jack wanted a vault but with all the stupid shit he's seen happen with vaults and their hunters, well it wasn't called the occupation with the highest mortality rate for nothing. Rhys just does his job and keeps putting the papers on Jack's desk like the man asked him to. It just seemed like Jack's want for a vault was getting out of hand.

Jack comes in with a suit on a hangar and walks straight to Rhys, "Damn she's annoying but I believe this is her best work yet." He smirks and hands off the suit to Rhys.

"Wait, it's only been four days. Is this all she does?" Rhys asks.

"She really doesn't have anything better or more productive to do and we really don't want her somewhere else shooting someone. I seriously think Helios would be empty by the end of the week if she went on a rampage so if you don't like the suit, shut up about it." Replies Jack and he walks to his desk. He looks at the stack of papers from the R&D team and rolls his eyes. He doesn't even read them, he just swipes them off his desk, making a mess of the floor. Rhys is going to have to clean that up, but doing it now might give Jack some satisfaction of having Rhys under his thumb. He leaves the mess alone for now.

"So when's that corporate dinner thing you wanted me to come to?" Rhys asks in order not to set Jack off.

"Yeah, it's today so if Aurelia had taken any longer I would have had to put you in one of my tuxes and she nearly had a heart attack when I suggested that so she worked those tiny fingers of her to the bone." Jack laughs.

Rhys holds up the suit, a vest and pants black and a grey shirt. The buttons seemed almost glowing yellow rimmed in orange. "She didn't have time to make you a jacket but I'm pretty sure you'd look good in it either way." Jack says as he looks through other papers. Rhys is pretty sure Jack is rambling, focused on the papers, but he blushes anyway. This was more that a little awkward working under Jack with the amount of pet names he had for Rhys. He'd gotten used to the usual ones because he called others them but Rhys was pretty sure he was the only person Jack called Babe. He's sure it's nothing and drops the thoughts. He has to check Jack later to make sure the man doesn't sneak a gun or something into the party, that just makes Rhys' job harder.

* * *

 

Rhys is given time to clean up and even having a fight with slicking back his hair but it doesn't quite work and his hair is much too messy to even get it to stay. It's mostly out of his face but a few strands still hang. Then comes the partial suit. The shirt and vest fitting him perfectly but the pants are tight. Now, Rhys knows he has giraffe legs and these pants didn't help with this. He turns at the mirror and well, at least his butt looks nice. Yvette and Vaughn were out on their own little date and tried to convince Rhys that they were totally not dating. Rhys originally had thought that he needed to meet Jack back at his office but the moment he opens the door he finds Jack outside his apartment in a really freaking nice dark navy suit.

"Uh, hello." Rhys mutters and Jack turns to him, then starts looking him up and down.

"Well damn Rheesy." Jack raises a brow, still looking up the younger man, which is the worst, only making his self-esteem worse. "You clean up nice." Rhys groans quietly and straightens his vest.

"Let's just get this over with." He groans.

* * *

The party doesn't go well. Jack is taken aside from Rhys to a large group of pompous assholes who drank nothing but champagne. Jack stood out like a sore thumb, he was quickly surrounded by them. Rhys is on the outside of them a few feet away, more people arrive and each more 'rich' than the last. Rhys ends up having another group around him of mostly woman who were just fawning over him.

"Aren't you darling!" One would say.

"Who left this one alone?" Another would ask.

"Why don't you come home with me?" Said yet another.

Each comment on him made him so uncomfortable. Rhys tries to get away from them but they just keep surrounding him. Suddenly alarm bells are going off. Rhys was almost too late when stopping a conversation and there was a point where Jack nearly strangled some bossy asshole, criticizing Jack, or he was sure he was doing so. Now if there wasn't something you did on Helios what that you didn't criticize Jack. Rhys has to pull him away from the group of people and they do end up leaving the party with Jack downing most of the drinks at the bar and his half-drunkenly ranting about this was why he wanted Rhys here and how the younger man nearly failed at his job. Everything goes by much too quickly but Rhys is nearly separated from Jack because of his general out-of-placeness at the party. They end up at what Rhys guessed was Jack's home on Helios. It was a hell of a lot bigger than Rhys'. It's huge. It was mostly living room and kitchen and honestly if Rhys had gone to the bathroom it would be the size of his own apartment.

"You want something to drink?" Jack asks and without waiting for Rhys to reply he tosses the man a beer which Rhys nearly drops, which would have probably gotten him shot. Jack then comes to his living room and with his fridge emptied as well as a small but substantial liquor cabinet and most of the alcohol on the living room table now. "Well, don't fucking stand there, sit down." Rhys jumps and sits down next to Jack and with how soft this leather couch was he fell back into it. This was the most awkward silence between him and Rhys. Rhys takes a long swig of his beer and ends up laying back on the couch.

"That was the worst idea I've ever had." Jack groans.

"Permission to speak?" Rhys mutters.

"What do you want?"

"This was in fact the worst idea you've ever had." Rhys replies. "I'm serious. Did you think that something like that wasn't going to happen?"

"Shut up, Rhys." Jack growls and downs an entire beer, maybe trying to bury his embarrassment, but that couldn't be true. It was most likely anger.

"Yeah, sorry. I know you didn't ask for my opinion." Rhys mutters and takes another sip from his beer. Jack turns on the television, it's larger than anything Rhys had ever owned.

"I said shut up, Rhys." Jack's tone is harsh as he opens something with a large brown bottle, it smells really strong, even from where Rhys was sitting, only a couple feet away though. This had been a bad time for both Jack and Rhys, scratch that, a really shitty time. Maybe Rhys should catch up with Jack on the drunk scale since the man was a head of him by at least four beers and a couple shots. This had been equally embarrassing for Rhys, having woman fawn over him and grab at him wasn't fun. He had been taken by the arm at least twice and walk around the room like some show hound, it really was the worst.

Before Jack even can take a drink of what ever he had in his hand and downs a few gulps, it burns his throat but it does the trick and his embarrassment is gone. He hands it back to Jack who is staring at him, eyes wide. "Well shit, if you told me that you wanted to get drunk I would have pulled out something harder." Jack snorts. Rhys groans and coughs loudly, now his throat feels like he swallowed rubbing alcohol but he feels a hell of a lot better.

"I am only surprised you haven't shot me for stopping you." Rhys mutters and then he feels cold glass against his forehead. "You don't waste good whiskey, dumb ass." Jack grunts. Rhys opens his eyes and looks at the bottle.

"You were about to do the exact same thing, jackass." Rhys mutters and looks sideways to Jack who snorts.

"So you get a bit feisty when you're drunk. Should have get a reason to get drunk sooner." Jack takes the bottle from Rhys' head and downs some of the bottle. He puts it back down on the table and picks up another bottle, something Rhys can recognize as Vodka.

"Ugh, no. No way." Rhys groans and sits himself up, "Look, vodka messes with my memory, seriously no."

"Jeez cupcake. I knew you had a stick up your ass but... seriously."Jack chuckles. Rhys frowns and the older man slides closer with the bottle. 

"Nooooo." Rhys tries to push the man away but to no avail.

"Come onnnn, don't be a buzz kill!" Jack smirks and Rhys gives in. He rolls his eyes with a groan, snatches the bottle and messily drinks from it, some of it dribbles down his chin and soaks part of his collar. He sets it back down and he feels like most of the nerves in his throat and brain are dead. He's a coughing mess after that and he leans forward, trying to get the taste from his mouth.

"AGH." He groans and covers his face. He's going to feel all of this in the morning and he knows it and he's not going to remember what happened after the next ten minutes.

"Atta' boy!" Jack laughs and downs his own shot which is a greater amount than Rhys can stomach.

"Asshole, how the hell do I get talked into this?"

"You're weak willed." Jack laughs and slams the glass bottle down. Rhys leans back and he feels warm, happy even and that progresses into what little filter he has, well he pretty sure it's gone. He looks over at Jack who would probably be red faced if he wasn't wearing that mask, it did spread to his ears. Then a thought came to mind. Was Jack really ever than Handsome? Was he as good looking as his mask? He moves on his own, he didn't feel like himself, but maybe that's a good thing.With the amount that he's drank in the little time he's been here but he feels warm in the face, in everywhere. He doesn't really think but when he does he realizes he's in Jack's lap and the man isn't pushing him off. In fact, he has his hands on his hips, rubbing in circles. Rhys has his hands on the man's chest. He leans forward and presses his lips to Jack's. His mask feels so real against his lips. He lets out a quiet sound and he feels Jack growl against him then the man is kissing him back. Rhys seriously never thought about what he was going but it felt like some fantasy. Maybe Rhys has been dreaming for a while now but this felt so unreal.

Uncharacteristically, Jack pushed Rhys back gently, stopping him. Rhys is dazed but he feels like he did something wrong, something in the pit of his stomach. "That's enough, kitten. Try that again sober and maybe you'll get the same reaction." Jack says

Though Rhys knows that he is drunk, this feels too nice to not insist he isn't. "I'm not drunk." He says with a small frown.

"Yeah, you are." With that Jack moves so quickly until Rhys is on his back on the couch and the older man is over him. "You're breath smells like rubbing alcohol. Get some sleep, you've done enough today." Jack says. He removes himself from Rhys and runs a hand through his now much more messy hair. "Worst idea I'll ever have today." He sighs and watches Rhys who was slowly falling asleep. "God kitten, you keep acting all social like that and I'll never bring you anywhere again." Rhys falls asleep after that.

And just as predicted, Rhys wakes up with the mother of all hangovers. He groans and presses his face into the leather couch below him. He didn't quite know where he was but he felt like absolute shit now. Then he hears movement and the smell of food makes his stomach turn, he couldn't even think about food right now. "Hey there light weight! I can hear you moving around. Get up." He hears Jack say, he's across the room and if Rhys was correct, the man was in the kitchen. Rhys pushes himself up from the couch and he thanks god for the eternal night that covered Helios. If he had to wake up to a sun this morning with a hangover, he's pretty sure his head would explode from the pain. He looks behind him and Jack is there with two plates, piled with breakfast food. Jack sits next to him and sets the plates down. Rhys isn't ready to get up and he falls over, face down in the couch again.

"No. Hey! Get up!" Jack raises his voice and snaps his fingers in Rhys' ear. Rhys groans and he's more than a little angry. "I brought Aspirin and shit so take em' and eat up. If you don't, that head aches going to last more than just an hour."

Rhys gets up and rubs his face, though Jack has probable cause to poison him since he got drunk last night, Rhys thought death was better than this headache. He takes the Aspirin, downs a partial bottle of water and stares at the plate of food. "Wow. What would people think if they knew Handsome Jack cooked?" Rhys mutters, but he isn't complaining. He doesn't think he can stomach this but he eats anyway and it's actually the best breakfast he's had in a while. He looks to Jack, wide eyed then back to the plate, this awakens the hunger. "Oh my god." He mutters and starts to eat more.

"I know right? Nothing tops Handsome Jack's hangover breakfast!" Jack laughs and though he does take a few bites from his own cooking, he just looks at Rhys. When Rhys' plate is empty he looks to Jack, confused as to why the man is staring.

"What?" Rhys asks.

"Don't what me. Are you forgetting something? Like can you remember anything?" Jack asks.

"You talked me into drinking vodka and that's it. What did I wreck something? Oh god, do I need to pay for something? I don't have this much money!" Rhys then panics thinking he may have gone overboard. He was always a major lightweight.

"What? Fuck no. You didn't--" Jack groans and shakes his head, "Forget about it."

Now that Jack has mentioned it, Rhys feels like he has forgotten something very important. Maybe he was the worst PA ever since he couldn't remember.


	8. Something I've forgotten

Rhys felt like the worst secretary there ever was. He had forgotten something and even if he hadn't realized it, Jack's mood would certainly give it away. The man was always in some sort of bad mood, sure, but not like this. Rhys could give no example to what this anger was, it just radiated from Jack's being. Even if he acted all normal with everyone (Or rather, as normal as Handsome Jack gets.) Rhys could tell. It had been nearly a week since they had gotten drunk together and all he could recall was whisky, Vodka, a bit of joking, he touched Jack's face at some point and then that was it. He asked Jack a few times to tell him what he had forgotten about but the man refused adamantly.

Rhys became more and more aggravated with himself until it stared to affect his work. He'd forget things or some files would become messy and it got to the point where Rhys didn't even want to see Jack. One day the man caught him in the midst of trying to fix his hell of a schedule. "Alright, kiddo. Alright, alright." The groaned and looked down at the papers in front of the tired man.

"What are you sating 'alright' for?" Rhys asked, obviously really not wanting to be teased today.

"You want to remember what you did, right?" Jack asked.

"Yes." Rhys replied and frowned. "I've been asking you for days now. Why would you suddenly just straight up tell me?"

"I'm not gonna tell you." Jack said with a smirk then took Rhys' wrist in his hand, pulling him up from his chair and leading him into his office. "I'm gonna show you."

"I'm sorry, what?" Rhys asked, kind of terrified.

"You're gonna be sorry about forgetting." Jack replied and let go of Rhys to sit in his chair, wheeling himself a bit far from his desk. Rhys has no time to say anything before Jack says, "Get in my lap."

Rhys' face goes red, the whole of the blush spreading from his cheeks to his ears to the back of his neck. "Wh-what...?" He muttered. He didn't know what to say.

" _Now._ " Jack grit his teeth and Rhys really had no choice but to comply. He put his knees on either side of Jack's legs and sat there, or rather he hovered, barely touching the man. Jack grabbed Rhys' hands and placed them on his cheeks. They were smooth, though still felt oddly real, even knowing it was a mask. Rhys kept his hands there, though he isn't sure what this might have to do with getting drunk with Jack and he was pretty sure they didn't.... _do it._

"You're gettin' nothing?" Jack asked, looking up at Rhys with what seemed to be disappointment in his eyes. Rhys shook his head and Jack sighed only to lean upward and capture the younger man's lips in his own. Rhys stiffened then after a moment he seemed to just melt into it, just as he had a few nights prior. It lasts only a few seconds and Rhys is still redder than when he was drunk.

"You got something now, cupcake?" The older man asked and Rhys only nodded. "Good. Don't do that again."

"It's your fault.' Rhys said quietly, still looking down at Jack. "I told you Vodka messes with my memory." Jack frowned but Rhys kissed him once again and it all faded. This was something Jack had been eyeing for a while. He wasn't sure if perusing a relationship would be good, but this kid was to damn naive and manipulative to pass up. _Oh_ this was going to be good.

**Author's Note:**

> Alright... this won't be updated often, but I want to know what you think! PLEASE TELL ME! GIVE ME IDEAS! I AM NOTHING WITHOUT COMMUNICATION FROM MY READERS!!!


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